


1AM

by yuto_da



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, Dancing, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Humor, Hoshi is a little shit, Jun is a sweetheart, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, and Ming is a flower
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-29 04:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10846350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuto_da/pseuds/yuto_da
Summary: Jun turned back to MingHao and offered the younger male a smile and a hand, “Want to dance till we drop together?”MingHao laughed slightly and took the hand. “Is this how you ask every boy to dance?”





	1. It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Why the hell not.

It had started like how all things do, relatively innocent. But like all things, it grew, slowly at first, growing to form some sort of suffocating unbelievably large ball that was clogged in his chest with no way of disappearing and MingHao was getting worse at hiding it.

He still thought about how it started and he still believed it wasn’t his fault or Jun’s. It was simply how humans worked. Sometimes we got attracted to things or people that we’d never expect and it really isn’t our fault, and neither was it his or anyone’s. It was simply how humans worked. It had been like that since the beginning of time and, it would continue to be so.

 

_‘It had been a late night (or early morning) and most of the boys had gone to sleep, too worn-out from the seven-hour dance practice session to complain or stay up bickering over which movie they’d watch –they’d bicker for a few seconds before they all fell asleep on the couch. It had happened before. But MingHao couldn’t sleep, so, he decided to try tiring himself out a bit more and practice through a few more of their songs._

_He reached to the room used for their dances and opened the door. MingHao was surprised to find Jun there as he had been expecting the room to be utterly empty, save for the few chairs and music player they kept constantly in the room._

_It seemed the older male hadn’t heard him opening the door so, MingHao decided to stand back and watch, really watch. They –the members in the performance team- never really got to see each other dance -due to the time spent practicing a new dance was done with the rest of the boys, so getting time to properly observe one another’s dance moves was low- and MingHao took full advantage of the opportunity._

_He was incredibly glad he hadn’t opened the door with more force or he would have missed out on seeing how incredibly good Jun was at dancing._

_The older male was dancing to ‘Adore U’ and MingHao hadn’t even thought it was possible for a human being to be that…fluid in their movements. He moved so quickly and effortlessly, jumping from one move to another in a split second with so much grace. MingHao was slightly envious. And at some point, MingHao was absolutely certain Jun had combined their dance moves from ‘Mansae’ and ‘BOOMBOOM’ and had given rise to something incredible._

_MingHao stood there watching in awe as Jun danced till the song played off the last notes and stopped. It was when Jun was moving to the front of the room to change the song that he was finally spotted. A shadow hiding behind the door frame, half into the room and half out of it, just like how MingHao felt, like half of him was in the room watching Jun dance, breathing the same air and listening to the same sounds, and the other half was watching from an outsider’s view, scared to even make a sound in fear of stopping what was playing out in front of him._

_“Hey, Ming,” Jun greeted with a nervous smile, “What are you doing up this late?”_

_It took a few seconds before MingHao realized Jun was talking to him and a few more for him to snap out of his stunned position and walk into the room, closing the door behind him and moving to where Jun was standing._

_“Ah…couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d dance away the excess energy…” He said. “What are you doing awake this late, hyung?”MingHao figured it’d be best if he didn’t mention how he’d been standing at the door for some time, simply watching in amazement as the elder male danced. It sounded a bit creepy._

_“Ah…the same as you, I guess, couldn’t sleep so I tried dancing to make myself tired.” Jun turned away from MingHao and changed the song. The opening beats for ‘BOOMBOOM’ began playing._

_Jun turned back to MingHao and offered the younger male a smile and a hand, “Want to dance till we drop dead together?”_

_MingHao laughed slightly and took the hand, asking the older male cheekily. “Is this how you ask every boy to dance?”_

_Jun laughed and even though MingHao knew the steps by heart, Jun placed him in the proper position and stood in front of him. Jun pulled MingHao in close. They were close enough that their noses would brush if either male moved. “Only the ones I like.”_

_MingHao had never smiled wider or turned that deep shade of red in his entire life._

_Jun laughed it off and let go of the younger male and went back to start the song from the beginning before standing in place with MingHao. They danced the entire song together even though it was difficult due to the lack of members that had certain solos that the dance revolved around but they managed till the song came to an end._

_Jun went over to where MingHao lied and high-fived him. The younger male had collapsed on the floor and was trying to catch his breath. He could normally dance the song five to six times non-stop but for some reason, he felt the urge to impress the older male, so he had done them –or at least he hoped he did- better than usual._

_“That was very good, Ming!” Jun praised the younger boy and MingHao couldn’t help but feel proud after receiving such a compliment from a professional dancer like Jun._

_He was still trying to catch his breath so he didn’t offer any response and simply raised his thumb in a ‘thumbs-up’ sign._

_“Thanks to that, I’m super pumped!” Jun said excitedly, practically running to the speakers and changing the song._

_“Hey,” He looked over his shoulder at Ming who had his eyes closed and his chest moving up and down rapidly, his heart rate was still high and his breathing had yet to go back to normal. “Want to go again?” ‘_

Ever since then, dancing till they dropped dead –literal dropping down to the floor, dead with exhaustion but with a wide grin on their faces- became their thing.

Sometimes, Jun would be the one who’d wake up and find MingHao dancing in the studio at ungodly hours. And sometimes it’d be MingHao, but whoever found the other first wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that at times –nearly every time- MingHao would find himself wishing he couldn’t sleep so that’d he’d go to the studio and dance, hoping that Jun would also have the same issue and come to the studio and, sometimes, -nearly every time- Jun did.

They danced everything from their own songs to other –Korean or Chinese or other band nationalities. It didn’t matter where the singers came from, nor did they care. -band songs –male and female- and with every dance move they did, MingHao felt that he got closer to Jun and was beginning to understand the older male much better than he did before.

 

MingHao was currently walking to the studio. It was a few minutes past one in the morning. He had abruptly woken up at ten in the evening and couldn’t fall asleep again, _and_ he also couldn’t go to the studio because most of the boys were still awake and while MingHao loved them –he really did. They shared a number of things and he was close with all of them, and he cherished them all but he didn’t want them to disrupt his time with Jun.

He’d realized he deeply treasured and enjoyed those hours spent in the studio, dancing till his feet screamed and begged for mercy –and continuing to do so despite that. So he was left no other option other than to stay awake and watch movies with them till they –minus him- all ended up falling asleep on the couch. But Jun wasn’t there with asleep on the sofa with the other boys. The older male was nowhere in sight.

MingHao half-hoped to find Jun waiting for him at the studio as he gently untangled himself from Hansol’s tight grip on his arm and headed over but he doubted it. There were times when MingHao would wake up and head over to the studio and he would be the only one dancing and  while those times weren’t bad –he could fully focus on the parts he couldn’t quite get right- it wasn’t as much fun as it could be if Jun was there.

He reached to the studio and opened the door slowly; half-hoping to see Jun there and half-expecting the place to be empty, and was pleasantly surprised to find Jun sitting down on the ground with his back pressed against the white wall.

There was no music playing so Jun could clearly hear when the door opened and he looked up and saw MingHao walking in. Jun smiled widely at MingHao. “Hey, Ming. For a second there, I thought you weren’t going to come today.”

MingHao returned the smile and it was pure and innocent just like the one that Jun had on. “Why wouldn’t I?” He asked the older male with a slight cock of his head, his pale blonde hair swishing to one side and Jun could see a few strands swaying with the wind coming in through one of the open windows.

Jun shivered and gestured for MingHao to close the door. He didn’t want the room’s temperature to lower more than it already had.

“I don’t know.” He stood up in one smooth movement that somehow amazed MingHao at how effortless it looked.

“Shall we begin?” Jun repeated the same action he had the first time they begun, walking into MingHao’s personal space and holding his hand out for Ming to take. And MingHao did the same thing he did then. He took the offered hand with a smile on his lips.

 The only difference was when Jun came that close to him, he accidentally lost his balance and moved forward, falling further into Ming’s personal space and accidentally making their lips to brush softly against one another.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They watch a movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have rambled on but here's the new chapter! Enjoy! Comment and tell me how bad it was XD

It was -as one would expect after kissing one of your closest friends- incredibly awkward for the next few seconds that they stood there, Jun looking down at MingHao with shock clear in his golden brown irises. MingHao was positive his face mirrored Jun’s.

They quickly let go of each other and moved a great distance away from one another. The silence slowly ate away at MingHao till he couldn’t stand it anymore.

MingHao coughed awkwardly in a poor attempt to clear his throat. “Uh...let’s begin, yeah?” He walked over to the speakers and set up a playlist for them to dance to and pressed play on the first song before going back to standing some distance away from Jun.

Jun still seemed shell-shocked and didn’t respond for a few seconds till MingHao called his name out loudly. He glanced over at MingHao and blinked a few times before realising music was playing.

“Ah...sorry... I don’t think I can today...” Jun paused in the middle of his words multiple times and looked at MingHao one last time before exiting the studio at record speed leaving MingHao staring at the spot where Jun had been relaxing before he walked in.

‘ _What just happened?’_

 

The following days after, MingHao went to the studio either in the early morning or late in the night and every time he went there, Jun wasn’t to be found. It wasn’t that Jun was avoiding him because during their grouply -with the rest of the boys- dance session Jun still acted normally around him but he was avoiding their –almost daily- dance sessions and MingHao was (slightly) hurt by that.

He thought he wasn’t alone when he considered their nightly adventures precious. He thought that he wasn’t alone when he enjoyed secretly sneaking around and dancing till the sun rose but he was wrong and that stung.

 

“Hey, have you noticed something’s up with Ming?” Jihoon asked suddenly. He was currently sitting on the floor in their living room and had a blanket placed on his lap to protect his legs and lower body from the chilly November weather.

“What do you mean?” Seungcheol questioned the younger male. It was Jihoon, Seungcheol, Jeonghan and Jun sitting on the floor watching TV and waiting for the other boys to come back with their food, one of which they were currently conversing about.

Jun stiffened at Jihoon’s question but the action was hidden by the blanket he had wrapped around him.

“I mean, lately, he’s been...weird.” Jihoon tried to explain. “More so than usual.” He added. “He’s not as cheerful as he usually was, he barely talks to any of us and I once found him staring at the studio...longingly.”

“What?” Seungcheol and Jeonghan said simultaneously.

Jihoon nodded his head. “Yeah, I asked him why and all he said was that it was an accident.”

Jeonghan had his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “An accident? What accident?”

“I don’t know...” Jihoon answered and he looked to his elders for assistance. “I asked him what he meant but he just turned away and walked back to his room. I think he was half-awake.”

They were silent for a while till Seungcheol spoke up to the one male who hadn’t spoken up since they began that conversation.

“Weren’t you close with him, JunHui?” Seungcheol turned to the Chinese male. He had been listening keenly to what Jihoon had been saying and it didn’t make sense why MingHao would begin acting so strangely after being more happy and cheery in the past few days than any of them had ever seen.

Jun stiffened even further and didn’t answer Seungcheol –he faked like he had been completely absorbed by the show that he didn’t hear him- till Jeonghan tapped his leg lightly. “Ah...yeah, I don’t know either.” He tightened the blanket’s hold around his body. “Maybe he’s homesick?”

“Homesickness?” Jeonghan repeated. “I don’t think that’s it. He called home recently and he looked very happy after.”

“Talking to family on the phone and being around them are two different things.” Jun said and all conversation of MingHao’s personality change ceased. The reality of Jun’s words hit them hard. They all missed home and did their best to keep in touch with their families but it wasn’t quite the same as having them right there.

The sound of the door opening temporarily filled the room and the voices of the other boys accompanied it, drawing them away from the sombre topic to a lighter one.

 

“We’re back and we brought...” Seokmin and Soonyoung ran into the room and held up a bag of delicious smelling food in Seungcheol face. “Chicken!”

“And cola and pizza and some bread for tomorrow’s breakfast.” Seungkwan and Joshua said in synchronization, walking into the room with shopping bags on their hands.

“And extra groceries and toiletries.” Mingyu followed behind the two and passed through the living room to go into the back and put away the items procured.

“That’s very good of you all,” Seungcheol praised the boys and began dividing the food equally for them all. “Hurry up, Mingyu!” He called out to the younger male and as soon as he’d said those words, Mingyu walked into the room and went to flop down beside Jeonghan, the older male gestured for Mingyu to open his mouth so that he could feed him a fry.

“Alright, let’s eat!”

 

After their late lunch/early dinner, Seungcheol assigned a few of the boys to clean up their mess in the living room and some to clean up their bedroom and house. Jun and MingHao were assigned to clean up their dishes and the living room. Seokmin, Jeonghan, Mingyu, Jihoon and Wonwoo were set to clean up their bedrooms and Seungcheol, Soonyoung, Hansol, Joshua, Seungkwan and Chan were to clean up the dorm house.

Like the time in the studio, it was incredibly awkward for MingHao and Jun as they stood side by side silently washing the dishes. MingHao was washing them and Jun was drying them, the occasional slosh of a dish being passed under water was the only sound between them.

MingHao wished he could open his mouth and just _talk_ to the older male but he wasn’t even sure if his voice would come out let alone what he would say. He scrubbed harshly at a two-day old pot partly filled with the remnants of rice. He wanted to act casual and unaffected but he couldn’t because he wasn’t casual and unaffected. He was stressed and _extremely_ affected.

“Hey Ming, it’s clean. The pot’s clean.”Jun said and his voice, even though he had spoken in a low voice -that MingHao would have missed it had he not been keenly attuned to the older male’s movements- seemed so loud after being in that stilled silence for some time.

“Ah...yeah,” MingHao rinsed it and passed the badly abused pot to Jun who proceeded to dry it with a cloth.

MingHao knew that that was his chance to start up a conversation with Jun but he was still unable to form the right words and _actually_ have the courage to say it out loud. But before he could psych himself up, Jun spoke up.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jun asked quietly. He placed the pot in its rightful place and waited for MingHao to finish scrubbing the next dish. And for a moment, MingHao was elated that Jun was still willing to talk to him -alone with no one else prompting them to talk- till Jun added, “The Hyungs have noticed you aren’t looking so well.”

He didn’t understand why he was incredibly disappointed by Jun’s words. He was happy Jun had _willingly_ initiated conversation between them but he was also disappointed -no, disappointment wasn’t the right word for it. _Hurt._ That was the best word he could use to describe how he felt. But he couldn’t act on it and so he smiled a smile that was a bit too fake, but Jun didn’t notice it and MingHao said, “Yeah, I’m fine, just a little...homesick, I guess.”

Jun dried one hand and wrapped it around MingHao, giving the younger male a side hug. “It’s okay. It – I won’t lie, it never really gets better but it becomes…bearable.”

MingHao nodded.

“You know we’re here for you if you need us, right?”

MingHao did miss home and he did feel bad for lying to Jun but he also couldn’t help the little skip his heart did when Jun’s arm wrapped around him. “Yeah, I know.” He offered the older male a smile to make his statement more believable and for a second he was sure Jun didn’t believe him from how he kept staring at him but then the second passed and Jun released him after a slight barely noticeable squeeze.

“Alright, let’s finish up here and go help the others.” Jun said with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. “If we finish early enough, we could get to watch a movie.”

MingHao shook his head and continued washing the dishes. Jun’s enthusiasm and love for movies had never waned in the few years MingHao knew him and he found the sight of the older male with a grin so wide –MingHao wondered how it didn’t split his face in half- on his lips and his beautiful brown eyes shining so unbelievably cute.

 _‘Shit.’_  

MingHao –au contrite to popular belief- was not completely oblivious to relationships and as to how attraction started between two people. He had been in a few relationships in the past and he had been able to tell he was attracted to them and as a result, he had learned to detect when he felt attracted to someone and at that moment, with Jun beside him, helping him do the dishes with that stupidly adorable grin on his face, MingHao realized he was attracted to his fellow band mate, Jun.

 

After finishing washing the dishes and helping the other guys clean the dorm, true to Jun’s wishes, Soonyoung and Jeonghan suggested they relax and watch a movie and left Joshua pick the movie.  In hindsight, they all should have seen letting Joshua picking the movie was a mistake. The –shockingly- older male chose a horror movie, a genre that unsurprisingly most of the boys couldn’t handle watching.

 

 

Soonyoung screamed and covered his eyes with hands, peeking in between the cracks of his fingers to look at the screen. “Why did you pick this, Shua?” He whined and cowered behind Seungkwan. Seungkwan was also hiding but unlike the two, Hansol was behind a blanket. He held it up to his cheeks occasionally raising it to cover his face when something scary popped up onto the screen.

“I thought it’d be fun to watch,” The man in question defended himself but still flinched when the main lead in the movie turned the corner and entered the room of his daughter to find the evil spirit lurking above his daughter’s face.

“What made you think a horror would be a fun thing to watch?” Soonyoung, Seungkwan and Jeonghan snapped simultaneously.

Joshua’s response was cut off by a loud scream originating from the television screen. Majority of the boys hid behind each other or for a few of them, behind  blankets and for an even fewer amount, behind their phone screens, feigning ignorance and or obliviousness to what was going on in the movie.

MingHao was in the first category. He was using Joshua as his protective blanket, ducking behind him whenever something scary was about to appear or did appear.

He was sitting on the floor pressed up against the couch Seungkwan, Soonyoung and Chan on. He was bundled up in blankets stolen from –he didn’t particularly know or care who it belonged to and sitting next to him was Joshua whom to his left was Jun and by their feet laid Seokmin and Jihoon, the two positioned so that Jihoon’s head laid on the bottom part of the couch that Seungcheol and Wonwoo sat on. Hansol sat alone on the bottom left of Jun, just in front of Seungcheol and Wonwoo’s couch. His feet were placed on top of Jun’s and Joshua’s and his heels looked at the stands of the couch Mingyu and Jeonghan sat on. The latter males were wrapped up in their blankets and sat in a way that Jeonghan’s head rested on Mingyu’s stomach, the older male would use Mingyu’s shirt and the blankets to cover his face and hide from the scene playing out on the television while the owner of said shirt would be trying to hold back his laughter.

MingHao was not a fan of horror movies. The mere thought scared him. But yet, there he was sitting down and braving through almost ninety minutes of pure terror. He was a bit amazed at himself for not bolting through the opening credits –like he had before- . Though he knew part of his reason to stay was so that he didn’t embarrass himself in front of Jun.

‘ _Damn, this is really bad.’_

MingHao could tell he was falling deep and very, very quickly and the terrifying part about it wasn’t the speed he was falling for Jun at, but how he couldn’t make himself think that what he was feeling was wrong. That it was strange. Abnormal, unusual, all kinds of words that meant the same thing but he couldn’t remember them. MingHao felt not quite at peace or okay with his recently named feelings but less anxious and panicky than he’d expect after realizing he was attracted to his _very male_ friend.

Seungkwan and Soonyoung screamed again.

“Why did you have to pick this movie, this exact movie, Shua? You know it’s ranked as the scariest movie of this year abroad!” Seungkwan rambled quickly in attempts to ease his fear even for a moment.

Joshua opened his mouth but Seokmin cut him off, ridding himself of the respectful speech and speaking to him as if he were an equal. “If you say ‘because I thought it’d be a good movie for us to watch together’ or something like that, I will go back there and beat you.”

Joshua kept silent.

“Come on guys, it’s not that bad,” Wonwoo said weakly jumping when a loud sound resounded in their dorm from the speakers. “We’ve only got another halfway to go, let’s brave it out, yeah?”

The guys grudgingly agreed but that decision barely lasted ten minutes.

MingHao didn’t remember as he had progressed from the first category to the very last one. He pulled out his phone and began swiping through his non-existent notifications. He could sense the movie was reaching the climax, thus, the height of all terror and he did not want to witness it, choosing to hide –at least for a few seconds- behind his phone screen till the movie ended.

His senses proved to be right when simultaneously, Seokmin, Seungkwan and Soonyoung cussed and the ‘S’ named trio all proceeded to leave the room. Soonyoung exited the room while trying to act cool and collected with some excuse about an early morning. Seungkwan exited while throwing his hands in the air and saying loudly, “I’m done, absolutely done,” –the last part was in English to emphasize his point. And Seokmin just left, didn’t say anything, just rolled up his blanket under his arm and left the room going directly to bed.

MingHao shoved his face closer to his phone screen and began flipping through previous conversations with his friends back in China. Looking at his previous conversations took him away from looking at the screen and so, he failed to see why Jihoon, Seungcheol, Hansol, Chan, Vernon and Jeonghan and Mingyu left but he heard it, the sound vibrating through him and rattling his nerves.

Joshua, Jun and MingHao remained.

Joshua was in the first category, hiding behind Jun while trying his hardest to finish the movie. Jun was in a whole new category, watching the television intently and analysing every single thing. And MingHao was where he had been since they reached the halfway point, on his phone but he was running out of charge and things to look through and he _definitely_ did not want to leave his warm bundle and go to the charger so he locked the screen and placed the device back in his pants, focusing on the movie once more.

Joshua lasted longer than MingHao expected. He even thought that the older male would finish the movie but he was wrong. A scene that was so unbelievably unexpected and terrifying took Joshua away. MingHao had his eyes closed tightly so he missed to see what it was that made Joshua drop out midway. Only Jun, who had not said much since the beginning of the movie, saw what happened.

“Hey, you can open your eyes now; the movie is nearing the end.” Jun said lightly tapping MingHao with his foot.

MingHao tentatively opened his eyes and looked at the television and it was like Jun had said, the movie was almost over. He bravely watched the last few minutes till the closing credits began to run and then he gave up and curled up into a ball, hiding underneath the blanket. He didn’t care how lame he looked to Jun but he couldn’t keep up with the false bravado of being strong and fearless, if he was being honest, he was more than scared shitless.

“Was it really that bad?” Jun asked but he got no response. MingHao was genuinely terrified at that moment and he immediately wanted to soothe the younger male and he did so without a moment’s hesitation.

Jun moved closer to MingHao and placed his hand on top of the male’s shoulder before using his grip on MingHao’s shoulder to lift the lighter male onto his lap. Jun had been so engrossed in the movie that he hadn’t bothered to look around at his fellow members. When he realized how terrified the young male in his lap really was, he felt bad for not looking out for him and vowed silently to never ever make him watch a horror movie again.

They stayed like that till they fell asleep, Jun’s head using the couch as a pillow and MingHao using Jun’s lap as a pillow. MingHao had never slept more peacefully in his entire life.


End file.
